Japan Synopsis
“An ancient curse has turned their lives into a nightmare of lust and revenge.”
At the prompting of his diplomat friend, Alex, writer Ted Fletcher takes his wife, Laura, and daughter, Amy, on an extended working holiday. Alex finds a house for them in Kyoto, Japan, and the Fletchers move in, laughing off rumors that the place is haunted. But the ghost of 19th-century samurai Shigero turns out to be very real, and is intent on making the family re-enact an ancient murder-suicide.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with The House Where Evil Dwells. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
The 1981–1983 Japan Window
In the crowded 1981-1983 Japan release window, The House Where Evil Dwells sits at #67 of 68. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1980s in Japan, 280 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The House Where Evil Dwells premiered alongside 20 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 20 other Japan films in 1982.
The 578th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
34 audience reviews — more than 54% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (54th percentile) outruns trending popularity (17th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The House Where Evil Dwells, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- apparition · 2
- masks · 1
- witch · 22
- adultery · 20
- haunted house · 17
- possession · 15
- writer · 15
- haunting · 9
- duel · 9
- love affair · 9
- ghost story · 9
- japan · 454
- murder · 155
- samurai · 128
- ghost · 84
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #4,532 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (1st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -2.6 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Horror productions specifically: #370 of 391 (top 95%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | United States of America, Japan |
| Original Language | En |
| Production Companies | Cohen, Commercial Credit Holdings, Toei Company |
| Runtime | 1h 28m |
| Release Date | May 14, 1982 |
| IMDb | tt0084096 |